All Eyes on AI

In this week’s issue, we examine how publishers, distributors, and more are embracing AI in their workflows, even as existential questions about the technology’s impact on the book business remain unanswered. Ingram Content Group, for one, has been leading the AI charge on the distribution side, experimenting with automated tools to manage metadata and advertise more effectively. In other news, a coalition of bookstores led by North Carolina’s Firestorm Books is alerting the ABA to the danger to progressive booksellers posed by a 2025 Trump administration directive that broadly defines “domestic terrorism.” New guidelines will require Alabama public libraries to strictly limit young people’s access to books with material related to gender identity and transgender people, the Advocate reports. Meanwhile, a report by the Florida Department of Education found that more than 600 unique titles were removed from public school library shelves during the last academic year, per the Pensacola News Journal. In an appearance yesterday on CNN, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson rejected any moratorium on AI development, saying that tech firms, not Congress, bear responsibility for ensuring their products are safe, via USA Today. A global literacy exam administered to 15 year olds from around the world found that American students’ reading scores have plummeted since 2022 and are nearing a 25-year low, the New York Times reports. Wired talks to people using chatbots to generate highly customized works of fiction. And Carolyn Osborn, author and cofounder of the Texas Book Festival, has died at 92.